Weekend Fifteen

(The Women of Amphissa by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1887)

It sounds crazy to start a weekend report on Monday, but it was a wild week. Monday night found us in the studio of WWUF, the public radio station at the University of Hartford, for an interview on the show, Drake’s Village Brass Band. “Drake” is really Keith Barrett, and Rusty was there to talk about P.S. Gilmore. Interestingly, Keith, who has been doing his radio show for 25 years, purchased my book a couple of years ago online and was delighted to hear that I was in town. We had a fun time talking Gilmore and bands and playing some historical recordings of Gilmore’s and other relevant music.

The radio station has wonderfully eclectic programming which is also available on the internet at  http://wwuh.org/wwuh.asx.

On Wednesday evening we drove up to Springfield, MA for the Massachusetts Morgan Horse Show at the Big E. It seemed as though we were the only non-horse people in attendance and the show had a party atmosphere. Disco was the theme and a stage in the center of the ring was filled with female manaquins dressed as The Village People and a disco ball hanging overhead. The organist played some very interesting arrangements of old disco songs, but always played to suit the action in the ring. When the horses walked, she played more subdued, and when they cantered, the pace of the music picked up as well. There were also home-made decorations throughout the arena, as well as lots of dogs and socializing.

In the ring, there were a variety of classes from cart and carriages to English, Hunter, and Western classes. Here are a few pics:

Friday we checked out cabaret performances at a piano store in West Hartford and then an Art show at ArtSpace. Neither were memorable.

Saturday was a different story. We began by attending morning rehearsal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. They were getting ready for Sunday night’s All-Mozart program with conductor Bernard Labadie and pianist Benedetto Lupo. We got lawn tickets and set our chairs up at the back of the Koussevitzky Shed and enjoyed the music of a piano concerto and the Jupiter Symphony. It was great fun reminiscing as I hadn’t been to Tanglewood in over thirty years.

the Visitor Center formerly the Berkshire Music Festival

slightly tangled wood

Just a few miles south of Tanglewood, past the Norman Rockwell Home & Museum in Stockbridge, we visited Chesterwood, the home of sculptor Daniel Chester French. Actually, after purchasing the farm in 1896, French would come in May and stay around six months before returning to his NYC abode. Always a fan of French’s work (Minuteman in Concord, Lincoln Memorial in DC) Chesterwood took on an additional allure with our recent discovery of Evelyn Longman, who worked as French’s assistant, collaborator and friend. She married Nathaniel Batchelder at Chesterwood in 1920.

We began by walking around the grounds and into the woods to view the Contemporary Sculpture exhibition curated by the National Academy Museum. Here are a couple:

Bear Walking by Richard Rothchild, 2009

Commando by Mary Ellen Scherl, 2010

And click here for the rest.

The studio was fascinating, starting with an almost formal sitting room at the entrance where French would both entertain clients and spend time with his family. Photos were not allowed, but I can tell you that there were a variety of busts and statues. We learned that French never sculpted any of the horses for the equestrian statues he received commissions for, rather another nearby sculptor named Edward Potter did them while French did the human figure. An equestrian George Washington done by French, with sword raised to the sky, was given to France in 1900 as a thank-you for the Statue of Liberty. It can be seen in Paris at Place d’Iena.

(not mine)

the studio

On the porch of the studio, we found an unmarked decoration that we were told was done by Evelyn Longman. There was also a small bust of her inside, perhaps done by French.

The house was also nice with lots of unique touches like the corn capitols on a couple of columns in the hallway. Everything is original to the home.

the house

Took a very nice drive north through parts of New York state to get to Williamstown, MA and the Clark Museum. Founded in the 1950’s as the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, the Clark has grown in size and influence. Clark settled in Paris in 1910 and began buying Art. The museum opened in 1955.

The Pissarro’s People exhibit has been drawing raves and, though we’ve seen lots of Pissarro at museums around the world, this was a unique show filled with Art of not just any people, but many of his family and himself. We learned that Pissarro was born on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, then a Danish colony, Pissarro spent most of his life in Paris, though retaining both his Danish nationality and Jewish heritage. He married his mother’s maid and raised eight children. Plenty of models, who were also encouraged to read and draw. He was also labeled an “anarchist.” His many paintings of regular people at work, be it in on a farm or in the city, reinforced this identity. An album of drawings entitled Turpitude socials, which contained drawings illustrating the horrors of Capitalism, such as starvation, poverty, exploitation, and violent insurrection, also demonstrated his leanings.

The galleries were packed and we were suitably impressed by the exhibition which included pieces from public and private collections from around the world. Also in the modern section of the museum were two rooms of American Art. A couple of Innes, a few Remington, some Sargents, and ten Homers. Many that we liked very much.

Friends or Foe (The Scout) by F Remington c1902-5

The Bridal Path, White Mountains by Winslow Homer 1865

Neopolitaqn Children Bathing by John Singer Sargent 1879

In the original section of the museum we found rooms filled with paintings and decorative pieces (silver, etc). While there were lots by Renoir, Gauguin, Degas, Bonnard, Monet, Matisse, and more, others, such as Morisot were lent to other exhibitions:

Study for Scene from Tannhauser-Third Act by PA Renoir c1879

Double Portrait of Aline Gauguin by Paul Gauguin c1883

The Table in the Garden by Henri Matisse 1898

The Blue Blouse by Pierre Bonnard 1924

A Girl Reading by PA Renoir 1891

Degas etc.

There were also paintings by Gainsborough and Turner:

Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water by JMW Turner  1840

As well as galleries for Italian, Barbizon (Millet), and a small room for Alfred Stevens.

Then we found that there was an exhibit by an artist named El Anatsui in the Stone Hill Center, which was more than a quarter mile walk up a hill. In addition to that we found a couple of pieces by Isamu Noguchi:

Kyoko-San and Personage I (Ningen I) by Isamu Noguchi 1984

El Anatsu, from Ghana, collected the metal neck bands and the little piece that stays with the cap from liquor bottles and wires them together to create his Art:

Strips of Earth's Skin by El Anatsui 2008

Intermittent Signals by El Anatsui 2009

It was too late to catch MOCA, so on the way through North Adams, we detoured up to the top of Mount Greylock. At 3,691 feet, this is the highest elevation in Massachusetts. It was sunset and the views, while not great through our lens, were beautiful to look at. There was a wedding about to happen, but the bride had not yet appeared so we didn’t get our wedding photos.

War Memorial

inside the War Memorial

Another terrific ride through quiet roads in Western Mass to Florence, where we stopped for something to eat at the Miss Florence Diner.

It had been many years since I had eaten there, as I have lived in three different places nearby.  The open-faced sandwiches were terrific.

We were supposed to take it easy on Sunday, but there was so much to do: an Asian Festival at the riverfront, and a Polish-American Festival as well as an Armenian Festival in New Britain. We chose to go to the latter two.

The PolishFest is called Dozynki and there were pierogis, golabki, placzki, kielbasa with kapusta, bigos, and Zywiec beer. And that was just part of the menu.  Many of the men were also drinking big cups of scotch to get them in the mood to dance.

Unfortunately, there was a problem with the band. Actually the problem was just the bass player, but he is also the leader. Seems like he has just a sketchy idea on how to play and – seriously – only hit the proper notes occasionally. His choice of songs also took too long, and were not very good picks. It was pretty clear that the assembled agreed as there were rarely any dancers and the applause was almost non-existent. I offered to play tuba and the drummer heartily agreed with my assessment. “You should talk to the trumpet player,” he said, “He writes the arrangements and wonders what the guy’s playing.” Maybe I’ll get a call. Actually this was most of the English I heard as everyone else was speaking in Polish.

Then we hit the Armenian Festival, which was not as big as the Polish party (New Britain is over 20% Polish), but much more entertaining. That is until the rain started coming down. But there was time for a few songs and a few dances.

The Harry Bedrossian Ensemble featuring Harry Bedrossian, Michael Kassabian, Roger Derderian, George Righellis and Haig Arakelian.

Then, even in the light rain, we were treated to a special dance: